In a wrapping machine of the type noted above, a roll of stretch film is driven around a ring structure defining an annular path so that stretch film from the roll is wrapped around a package. If the package is a relatively short package, such as a carton not substantially longer than the wrapping machine, it is known to wrap the package while the package is resting on a support, such as a bed of rollers within the ring structure. If the package is a relatively long package, such as one or more pieces of lumber, pipe, or tubing or a roll of textile or carpeting, it is known to wrap the package in a spiral pattern as the package is being conveyed through the wrapping machine, as by an input conveyor, a bed of rollers within the wrapping machine, and an output conveyor.
As exemplified by Model MSB Mima.TM. Stretch Bundlers, wrapping machines of the type noted above are available commercially from ITW Mima (a unit of Illinois Tool Works Inc.) of Boca Raton, Fla. Machines of related interest are disclosed in prior patents including Brown et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,864,303, Lancaster et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,957, Lancaster et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,734, Lancaster et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,322, Bergling et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,857, and Kovacs U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,581.
There has been a need, to which this invention is addressed, for a package-conveying apparatus useful with a packaging machine of the type noted above and capable of conveying a relatively short package, such as a carton not substantially longer than the wrapping machine, into the wrapping machine before the package is wrapped and from the wrapping machine after the package has been wrapped.